Bloodless Desire

Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Echoes in the Velvet Dark

The heavy mahogany doors of the master study slammed shut behind her, but the sound was entirely drowned out by the deafening roar of the blood rushing past Analaya's ears. She fled down the cold marble corridors of the tower, her bare feet hitting the floorboards in a wild, frantic rhythm. Her long, dark wavy hair fell over her burning face like a tangled shield, completely unable to contain the hot, brilliant flush that had crawled from her collarbone straight to her cheeks.

Back in the study, Alejandro stood perfectly still for a long, quiet moment. The space where she had been pinned against his towering physique still carried the lingering, intoxicating heat of her human adrenaline. A low, deeply satisfied hum vibrated through his muscular frame as his crimson eyes tracked the empty threshold. Slowly, with an agonizingly calm and effortless grace, he smoothed down the front of his vest, slid his long pale fingers through the sharp lines of his jet black bob, and glided back to his leather chair. He picked up his silver fountain pen, set it back against the open journal, and continued his treatises on human fragility as if absolutely nothing had happened, his scholarly stone facade settling perfectly back into place.

But inside the isolation of the east wing chambers, Analaya was living in a completely separate hell.

She slammed her bedroom door shut, turning the heavy iron lock with a trembling hand before collapsing flat against the polished wood. Her knees shook so violently they could no longer support her weight, forcing her to slide down until she sat crumpled on the cold floorboards.

"Stupid, shameless, pathetic fool," she hissed into the empty, vaulted room, cursing herself out in a breathless, ragged whisper.

She pressed her palms against her eyes, but the darkness offered no sanctuary. The memory of the interaction was burned into her mind with terrifying precision. Every time she breathed, she could still feel the sudden drop in temperature that radiated off his body. She could still feel the silk wrapped stone pressure of his large hand anchored at the small of her back, pulling her lower belly flush against his hard, lean thighs.

But it was the echo of her own voice that made her stomach twist into a fresh, agonizing knot of pure mortification. She had moaned. She had let out a loud, deep, unbidden sound right into the cool curve of his ear, entirely exposing the raw, desperate extent of her own physical transparency. She had given him the ultimate victory, confirming his thesis without him even having to strip a single piece of fabric from her body.

"I hate him," she whispered fiercely, her fingers curling into tight fists against her knees. "I absolute hate how he looks at me."

Yet, even as the curses left her plush lips, her body betrayed her completely. The visual image of his flawless jawline, his sharp angles, and the dangerous, captivated smirk playing on his mouth made a sharp wave of liquid heat pool low and heavy behind her pelvis. The sheer arousal was an oppressive, suffocating weight she couldn't handle.

She crawled toward the heavy mattress, dragging her aching limbs beneath the silk sheets, desperately seeking shelter from the drafts of night blooming jasmine sneaking through the arches. But the bed only smelled faintly of ancient cedarwood and his distinct masculine aura. She rolled onto her side, her green eyes wide and wild in the shadows, her shallow breath hitching as she felt the lingering tingle where his teeth had lightly grazed the soft flesh beneath her ear. The friction of his cool breath was still ghosting over her skin, turning her skin into a furnace. She lay wrapped in the dark, completely consumed by the shameless, unyielding desire for the predator, knowing with terrifying certainty that she was entirely unraveled under his roof.